


[Oldfic] You Feel Like Breathing

by TheFanficMaster



Series: Old fanfics [51]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-15
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-08-15 06:25:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8045743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFanficMaster/pseuds/TheFanficMaster
Summary: [Oldfic] She messed up. And she was going to fix it.





	[Oldfic] You Feel Like Breathing

It had been a full five minutes since the door behind her slammed shut, shaking the walls of her small apartment with the force of the swing. She could still hear the sound echoing in her mind over and over, as if taunting her with its presence. Her neighbors had yelled obscene things up to her for a few minutes after the incident—it _was_ rather late after all—but she couldn't even bring herself to care about the troubles she was going to face in the morning when her landlord found out what happened.

The only thing she could think about was the look in his eyes. Eyes like two sharp cuts of cold onyx staring back at her, emotions swirling in their dark depths like a magnificent storm; she could almost see the thunder and lightning he used to be so famous for dancing behind his eyelids.

She hated to admit that she was afraid, not so much because they'd argued, but because he'd never looked at her like that. In fact, she'd never seen such an honestly _angry_ expression turned on her before and she had to admit that she wasn't expecting it; it had shaken her to the core.

…But hadn't she deserved it? Now that she thought about it, she most certainly did. Actually, she'd deserved that look for such a long time that she was shocked he hadn't caved in before. Between them a mutual trust had developed, a friendship built on respect and hard work. It had taken many years to cultivate it, but Asuka had to admit that she truly liked the man Manjoume Jun had become, even if he still showed traces of the boy he'd been once before, desperately trying to prove himself to her, to _everyone,_ to prove that he wasn't a failure…

And what did she do? She just threw it all back in his face. All it took was a few simple words and the thread had snapped, leaving her alone and cold in the dark of her apartment leaning against the smooth wood of her door and listening to the steady lull of the rain outside.

He hadn't even brought his umbrella with him.

Asuka glared into the dark, arms crossed as she tried to fight the wariness threatening to grab a hold of her. She hated to admit it, but she'd been enjoying the relationship they shared—even had to admit that she was slowly allowing it to develop into a romance, now that she knew him well enough, knew that his feelings were true and loyal, and not the raging screaming of teenage hormones like she always suspected they were. He always stayed by her side, a silent statue waiting in the dark, waiting for her to acknowledge him, smiling at her when she needed it, helping her through the hard times, reminding her that she was beautiful when she was feeling down.

On the desk next to her was a pile of papers that Asuka had yet to finish grading. She stared at them for a moment, barely taking in the message behind those papers. She had work tomorrow and she was expected to have those papers graded on time. If she didn't, she'd surely be rebuked for her laziness.

She couldn't make herself move from the door, however.

' _Something's wrong…'_ She didn't know why, but she felt a pull of anxiety in her chest in gut, her instincts telling her that something was indeed off. She still couldn't get the look in his eyes out of her head, the fiery look as he stepped out into the rain, hands shaking with tension.

Her heart clenched with fear.

She hated that she was allowing herself to be swayed by a man—she was a strong woman and had no need or want for romance. This…relationship she had with Manjoume…it hadn't been her intention. Perhaps she should've expected it; who knows.

But she had a horrible feeling that if she kept standing there, he wasn't going to come back. That if she didn't go after him, she'd lose him forever.

Staring at the stack of papers one last time, Asuka finally made a decision. She turned and grabbed her long blue coat off the rack and dashed out into the rain, once again slamming her door behind her. It was already pitch black outside, save for the street lights all around her and the occasional bolt of lightning as it streaked across the cloudy sky. She ran down the sidewalk, cursing in her head once she realized that she forgot to grab her outside shoes and was still wearing her somewhat refined dress shoes that she wore to her classes. She'd become very good at running in these kinds of shoes since her early days at Duel Academy, but she had to admit that sneakers were easier to run in when it was wet and slippery everywhere.

After a few minutes, Asuka stopped for a moment to rest, grabbing onto a light pole for support. A car streaked past her and she stared at it absently, trying to ignore the pit that was growing in her stomach. She wasn't even sure she knew where he'd gone and he had such a head start on her that it was questionable if she would be able to catch up anyway.

But she had to try. She couldn't let him leave like this, she just couldn't.

Filled with renewed determination, Asuka continued to run down the street, holding her jacket closer to herself in an attempt to ward off the cold both on the outside and the inside. Her heart was pounding with fear and she found that it was becoming more and more difficult to breathe past the panic that was threatening to overwhelm her. Why was she so scared? What was she so frightened of?

Losing him? No, that wasn't exactly it. Life would move on, she knew it would. But maybe she didn't want it to, maybe she actually wanted to hold on to him, the one friend that had kept in close contact with her after they graduated, the one man who actually cared for her for who she was and not her accomplishments or her body.

Or maybe she was afraid because she was finally learning what it was like to need somebody like that, to care for someone like that. Manjoume had known for years, but it had taken her so long to figure it out. The circumstances just weren't right—they hadn't grown up enough for it to work out.

The thunder boomed from somewhere behind her, reminding her of her situation. She dashed around a corner, startled when the lightning lit up the street and sidewalk across from her, the outline of a black coat and damp, misshapen hair clearly visible to her as he trudged slowly down the street, head down, and hands deep in the pockets of his trench coat.

Asuka wasted no time in dashing across the street after him, nearly tripping over herself in her rush to get to him. He hadn't seemed to notice her yet, for he kept walking at that same, slow and even pace through the puddles. His destination wasn't certain, but it appeared that he was heading to his own apartment.

She didn't even realize what she was doing until she slammed into him, nearly knocking him over in her haste to get to him, to get her arms around him, to hold him in place and prevent him from walking away from her. He tensed, startled, before turning to stare back at her with surprise, taking in her form soaked with rain water, hands trembling with cold and relief, eyes down and hidden by her hair.

"Asuka?"

She flushed, feeling more than a little embarrassed at her current state. But even still, her name, her _first name_ that only a few people called her rolled off his tongue so easily, like he'd been saying it all his life.

She wanted to hate him for making her feel like this.

He was still staring at her, but he'd turned around so that he was facing her, hands still in his coat pockets. Asuka clenched his jacket in her fists as she struggled to regain her breath. He was being so patient with her, just like he always was. It made her even angrier with herself.

"I…" She attempted, only to have her voice fail on her. "I…"

"Why did you follow me?"

His voice was low and husky, his breath sending small puffs of white clouds into the air. She stared at them for a moment, mesmerized, before his question fully registered.

"Manjoume-kun, I want…I'm sorry!" She finally blurted out, sighing with relief once the words left her mouth, her shoulders sagging with relief. She straightened up and reluctantly let go of his coat, knowing that he wouldn't leave her alone out in the storm, no matter how angry he was with her.

"I know that I shouldn't have said what I did…I didn't mean any of it, but I was just so angry that…"

He sighed then, his face shifting from a stoic mask to a more honest expression of confusion, hurt, and barely hidden anger.

"You say that, but what if it's true? You fancied him before, I know you did, it was written all over your face," Manjoume stated, easily reading the guilty expression on Asuka's face. "Everyone knew it. I think even he knew it, by the end at least. But I never lost hope, never gave up that one day I'd be able to make you see past that. I want to accept your apology, but…I need you to be sure first, that it's me you really like and not him. Tell me, Asuka."

_Tell me._

She stared at him for a moment, the shock of his words rendering her speechless. She didn't know what she'd been expecting, but it definitely wasn't _that._

But after a few minutes of gaping at him like a fish, she finally seemed to regain her composure and sucked in a few determined breaths, smiling as attempted to put the feelings into words.

"I like…" She paused for a moment, smiling contently as the familiar warmth of Manjoume's jacket closed over her, shielding her from the rain. "I like…you, Manjoume."

He stared at her for a moment before closing his eyes and letting out the breath she hadn't even noticed he'd been holding. When his eyes opened, the storm had calmed to a gentle drizzle, the light barely a shimmer among his dark depths.

"Come on; let's get out of the rain."

She smiled to herself as he led her the rest of the way to his apartment, his black undershirt getting completely soaked in the process since he was allowing her to use his coat. She felt bad, but knew that he wouldn't accept it back no matter how much she tried, so she just accepted the gesture as an acceptance—he was accommodating her apology.

When they reached his apartment door, he led her upstairs without a word, leading her over to the couch as he dashed around trying to turn all the lights on, making a disgusted face at the water dripping from his hair as he went. Asuka immediately went in search of towels, finding a stack of freshly cleaned gray ones sitting on a shelf in the bathroom. After hanging up both their soaked jackets, Asuka went back to the living room, finding him checking his cell phone for any missed calls. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even hear her approaching.

He made a strangled noise of surprise when she dumped the towel on his head and began rubbing it a bit roughly, doing her best to get it as dry as she could without actually having to use a hair dryer. After a minute or so, she pulled it away, satisfied when she saw that his hair was no longer going to be dripping onto the carpet. She then repeated the process on herself, ignoring the playful glare he was giving her.

"We both look ridiculous."

"So? You've seen me covered in blood, sweat, and dirt—I don't think this is any worse," Asuka remarked, noticing with relief the small smile he sent her way. He was still upset, that much was certain, but he was being patient with her like always, willing to sit back and swallow his own feelings for the sake of her happiness.

But he wouldn't have to do that anymore, she would make sure of that.

Outside, the rain finally ceased to a gentle stop, leaving only the gentle chirp of the insects and the occasional sound of a car to break the silence.

The storm was soothed.

…

Asuka frowned and chewed on the end of her red pen. It was a nasty habit, but one that she was having a little bit of trouble getting rid of. The papers she was grading were spread out in front of her and to her dismay several of them were turning up with dozens of red marks all over the page.

Her first year working as an actual professor—and these were the results?

She sighed, resisting the urge to slink forward onto her desk with defeat. So what if these were the results now? Obviously things probably wouldn't go exactly the way she wanted them to immediately. She would just have to change up the curriculum a little so that her students found her class easier to grasp.

All the same however, she had her work cut out for her.

A quiet swear broke through her thoughts and shattered her concentration. Asuka resisted the urge to smirk when the sound of typing in the background became fast and consistent, showing that her companion was delving into his work head on.

She swiveled around in her desk chair just enough to observe the man sitting on her bed out of the corner of her eye. Jun Manjoume was frowning intently at his laptop, which to Asuka's amusement was strategically placed on his lap as it buzzed and whirred, therefore avoiding any possible damage to the covers on her bed.

Unfortunately, this also meant that the laptop was probably burning right through his pants. In other words, he was going to give himself an injury if he kept this up. As it was, she was shocked the laptop hadn't overheated yet as they'd both been working for several hours on end.

Asuka smirked as she stood from her chair, not receiving any recognition from the man that was occupying her bed. Whatever finances he was looking at were probably really frustrating judging by the way he was frowning. She remembered her brother telling him to get a secretary—he could afford one after all, there was no need for him to take so much work upon himself. However, she'd smiled secretly behind her hand when he'd promptly blushed and refused, stating that he had no need for such a thing.

And really, Asuka smiled to herself as she made her way to the closet to dig for one of her old towels, this was just one of the things that made Manjoume so admirable a person.

"Here," she nudged his shoulder gently to get his attention, handing over the towel as his eyes drifted up to look at her. "Put it on this. I don't want you to get a burn."

He nodded gruffly, lifting the laptop so she could spread the towel out on his lap, giving him another layer to protect himself from the heat she could feel rising from the computer—the fan was whirring as hard as it could, but it just couldn't cool it down enough to keep it from being painful. Manjoume's sigh of relief confirmed this for her.

She let her fingers brush over his arm encouragingly before she returned to her seat, not missing the light pink tint against his pale skin.

Really, was dating someone supposed to be this strange? From what she'd always heard about dating, it was supposed to consist of running around together like you didn't have a care in the world, spending money on each other all the time, spending every waking moment together.

This wasn't like that at all and to say that Asuka was relieved was an understatement. It was nice to be around her…well, they never really established that they were seeing each other. It was more of an unspoken feeling between them.

Still though, it was rather amusing that he was all too happy to be here with her even though they were both working. It made her feel a little bad actually.

But really, who would she kidding? Manjoume was distracting her thoroughly just by being in the same room. There was no way she was getting the rest of her work done that night—she had the whole weekend to finish anyway.

Decision made, she carefully stacked her papers into two piles: graded and non-graded. Then, she made her way to the kitchen, immediately making her way over to the coffee pot to prepare an evening pot of coffee. She glanced at the window as she went about her business, noting with pleasure that a light rain was beginning to brew in the darkening sky. Soon, the night would be upon them and the sound of the rain would lull her to sleep.

After pouring two cups of coffee and adding sugar and such to one (Manjoume liked his black) Asuka headed back to the bedroom. She found Manjoume with his chin atop his crossed fingers, mumbling softly to himself. She giggled and decided that she better interrupt him before he lost himself completely in what he was doing.

"I made you some coffee."

He blinked as if he'd forgotten that she was there, which was actually rather amusing.

"Thanks," He took the cup gratefully, closing his eyes softly as he took a sip. She sat down next to him, drinking from her own steaming cup as she leaned over to glance at his work. Open in front of him was a rather complicated looking spreadsheet. There were four columns, each one full of several large numbers.

Overall, it didn't make any sense to her. She frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"What is all this?" Asuka leaned against Manjoume's side as she tried to get a closer look of the shadowed screen—she really needed to replace that darn light bulb.

She felt him stiffen slightly against her, but made no move to lean away. She smiled softly at this, knowing that he was just as confused about their whole ordeal as she was.

"Finances for my circuit. I still need to factor in all outside donations before I can figure out what our budget is for this month."

"Sounds confusing."

"It's…necessary," he replied, smiling as he entered a sum in column three, a donation labeled "Marufuji." Asuka shook her head and drank some more of her coffee, surprisingly finding herself feeling drowsier than before as she drank the caffeinated beverage.

Ah, proof that she was indeed addicted to caffeine. Only someone who was very used to it could drink it and then go to sleep.

"You shouldn't drink coffee before going to bed," Manjoume pointed out to her. Asuka flushed slightly, realizing that while he'd been working he'd also been observing her from the corner of his eye.

"I would say the same to you, but you're not planning to sleep tonight are you?"

His breath hitched with surprise as he stared at her. Her gaze was unwavering as it hardened into a glare.

"I have to get this work done."

"You have all weekend to finish it. Your next duel isn't until next week."

"Yes, but—"

Before he could protest, the laptop was forcefully removed from his lap, towel and all. He chuckled as she sat it on her desk, closing it deliberately after shutting it off.

Point taken—he wasn't working anymore tonight.

But that was okay; he supposed he could get it done tomorrow night.

The irritated and yet embarrassed look Asuka was giving him suggested that he wouldn't finish it until Sunday.


End file.
